numbers

After long months of fiery arguments in the senate turned ito impeachment court (to market place at times), the Philippines successfully convicted Renato Corona, the very first Chief Justice impeached in history.
Take a look at these important numbers:

43-days of trial
20-senators voted for CJ's conviction
3-senators voted for CJ's acquittal
188- congressmen that signed impeachment complaint in December
8- original number of articles of impeachment raised by the prosecution
3- number of articles heard on the Impeachment court
P3.5 million- cash and incentive assets decalred in CJ's 2010 SALN
P31 million peso deposits- Corona's deposits according to BPI bank managers
P185 million- Corona's joint peso and dollar accounts according to himself
P5.7 million- the cost of the impeachment trial

the different faces of freedom

The different faces of freedom

There have been too many crazy things going on in the past weeks that I do not know where in the world I will start. But let me take off anyway.

Speaking of take-off, the recent incident in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) involving actress Claudine Barretto and husband Raymart Santiago, versus columnist Mon Tulfo was a totally shameful fiasco.

All is said. In fact, more than two sides of the story have surfaced. Count in, the poor airport’s attendant, her mom, even Judy Ann Santos, the Tulfo Brothers, the DOTC.

What a slap in the face of media it is that too much airtime is wasted covering the incident, over and over. But I completely understand — take note that BAD publicity, no matter how bad it is, is still publicity. And the parties love publicity.

Let’s just wait until they get the attention they need, probably the will all get new projects after all. And we will probably watch.

Speaking of watching, Lady Gaga’s concert in Manila went on amid protests from civic groups, who claimed that some of the music icon’s songs and videos (which will of course be part of her show) are too explicit and blasphemous and do not conform to the Filipino concepts of morality. Name Judas.

Mayors and the MMDA came to the rescue, saying Gaga should better behave. But can they tame the mother monster? It seems they tried but she was born that way.

Some people are born that way, indeed. Gays in the US have extensively wanted the government to allow same sex marriage. Obama, in time for the upcoming elections, said he is open to the idea. But wait, Manny Pacquiao is not.

In an interview with a US-based Fil-Am reporter, the boxing champ reiterated that he is against same sex marriage, quoting verses from the bible. All is well, until the write up said that Pacquiao mentioned a Leviticus verse, which in essence, said being gay is evil.

Controversy sparked in an instant. People were disappointed of the ‘saintly’ Pacquiao, but it turned out later that Pacquiao was misquoted. The writer intentionally did so.

These incidents make me ponder on Freedom.

Was it journalistic freedom that allowed Mon Tulfo to take pictures of fuming Claudine?

Was Claudine’s freedom (or privacy) violated?

Did Raymart offend Tulfo’s journalistic freedom (or human rights?), was it the other way around?

Are all of us free to react on the issue, even when we knew less of what really happened?

Can Lady Gaga’s artistic freedom pose a threat to Filipino morality?

Are we not free to discern what is moral and not?

Should we be given our freedom to choose the genre of music, or singer we want to listen to?

Should the third sex be given equal freedom to marry?

Did the writer abuse his journalistic freedom?

The bottomline: Freedom can allow us to do a few things. It is like having wings to fly but we can never fly too far or to too long or too wide because other birds have wings too.

First of all, I missed posting. See, I was too busy with work that I actually forgot to update here.

Speaking of updates, recently the Miss universe Organization earned the headlines with its decision to allow transgenders to join the Miss Universe pageant starting next year.

Consequently, a lot of people either rejoiced or expressed their disappointments. Much has been said and people were offended by people. Views were aired, debates proliferated. So much so, one thing is proven — the society is still rich in values, be it the values of the olden days long gone or the values that the modern era has taught us.

In any case, the spark of controversy may be healthy so long as no one in particular is being demolished in the eyes of the public.

We Filipinos are value-oriented. There is no question to that. But the problem with us is that we find it hard to accept change. Perhaps we are cautious of the side effects, or perhaps we have a very strong grip on standards.

This brings me to one point, how should we define women? One eminent answer leads you to child-birth.

But I say it is deeper than that, what truly makes a woman is the recognition of the society that she is indeed a woman.

And until transgenders earn that kind of recognition and that kind of respect, then they will forever be in question. In the absence of this, a pageant even with the brightest lights and glitters, will be a circus, an entertainment, even an insult to those whose remain shut to their personal beliefs.

And this might not happen.